Ceramic hot plates made of silicon nitride can be produced with an outer diameter of 400 mm. Within this diameter any rectangular shapes, customized shapes and openings are possible. A typical height of the plates is 5 mm and with an integrated cooling channel about 15 mm. The special properties and low mass of the ceramic material allow fast heating rates, uniform temperature distribution and outstanding precision in control. In comparison to metal the surface of ceramic stays flat due to its low thermal expansion even when operated with fast changes in temperature. The high strength of hot-pressed silicon nitride guarantees high stress resistance (e. g. with high pressure loads) and excellent wear resistance. The hot plates are very suitable for demanding processes in semiconductor processing systems.

Our in-house designs make any modification in size, configuration, or performance simple and convenient. Mounting-bracket holes and bores for temperature sensors can be added to the design. Laser-cut vacuum grooves can be added as well. Our hot plates come already flat ground, however they can be ground further up to a flatness of < 10 μm to meet specific requirements. Furthermore, our ceramic heating conductor with its customized design allows the integration of several heating zones. Devices to compensate for heat loss and an internal test lead for temperature measurement can be easily built in. For operating in high vacuum at up to 1 000 °C a pin contact can be supplied. In several customer projects we integrated a cooling function which can be produced by a cooling module with integrated channels. This cooling module is brazed high vacuum tight to the heater. Cooling is effected by compressed air or nitrogen.